Pedestrians count, we’ve been told, in Manteca.

It is why the city spent $240,000 on an active transportation study three years ago.

The study that was adopted identified $61 million in improvements — sidewalks, bike lanes, and intersection upgrades — aimed at making travel on foot or via bicycles safer, easier, and more appealing.

The city also has worked with Manteca Unified School District under the guise of the Safe Routes to school endeavor.

 But apparently whether pedestrians count depends on if they reside in an apartment or in a traditional single family home.

And let’s be clear — the biggest group of pedestrians — and arguably the most vulnerable and at greatest risk when it comes to interacting with traffic — are school children.

Two projects that are making their way through the city’s planning process succinctly make that point.

*The 62-unit Yosemite Apartments complex west of Kaiser Hospital on the northwest corner of Fishback Road and Yosemite Avenue.

*The 797-home Yosemite Square neighborhood northeast of the Austin Road and Highway 99 interchange.

Bot are located on arterials.

Yosemite Square is on Austin Road that has a posted speed limit of 55 mph, no street lighting, and razor-thin shoulders.

Yosemite Square is on the wide five-lane (the fifth is a center turning lane) East Yosemite Avenue with a 45 mph speed limit, minimum lighting, and a missing segment of sidewalk on the north side of the street.

In terms of looking out for pedestrian safety, the city got the developer of Yosemite Square to agree to install sidewalks from the project all the way to Yosemite Avenue/East Highway 120.

That is huge.

Both the developer and the city should be proud of that decision.

Much of the sidewalks will be off-site. It is clear; however, it addresses safety issue for future residents of Yosemite Square.

As an aide, it essentially gets future students from Yosemite Square to Yosemite Avenue where they will then have to cross the heavily traveled East Highway 120 route to continue toward Cowell School.

That likely means if the housing being built is within the 1.25-mile distance to an elementary campus that triggers Manteca Unified providing to and from school busing that is not reimbursed by the state and cuts into classroom instruction funds the district may do so anyway out of a serious safety concern.

That aside, it provides a connected sidewalk for future residents to reach the Yosemite Avenue corridor where sidewalks already exist on the south side to access commercial, Manteca High, and downtown and beyond if people are so inclined to walk that far.

 While the city deserves a thumbs up for Yosemite Square — at least from the perspective of following through on their promise to do the right thing for pedestrians and not treat them as an afterthought —the city earned a thumbs down for Yosemite Apartments.

They have allowed a 62-unit complex that could have more than 100 people living on a major street street while leaving a sidewalk  segment missing.

Just like Yosemite Square, the apartment complex is non-contiguous development.

It also points for a clear direction of travel that most pedestrians would need to access any retail, restaurants, or schools.

The safest route to the nearest elementary school is heading east on Yosemite to get to Stella Brockman school.

That said, in order to go that way, the students would first need to travel on the shoulder of Yosemite Avenue with fast-moving traffic coming toward them.

That same stretch of the shoulder that doubles as a bike lane is the way to access shopping and such. It certainly would be even more dangerous at dark, in fog, or rainy weather for even adults to use.

The simple solution would have been to require that missing link to go in.

And if staff couldn’t find a way to put the Yosemite Apartments developer on the hook for it — or at least pay for it and then be reimbursed as the property in question develops — the city then should pay for it to make sure it is in place when the apartments are completed.

No one  on the current council may remember — except perhaps Charlie Halford, who was in the police department command structure at the time — when Kaiser opened medical offices next to the hospital there was a similar but larger gap between the medical facility and Trevino Avenue when it came to sidewalks.

After receiving numerous safety complaints from the handicapped forced to try to navigate the area in power wheelchairs to get to and from appointments, the council used city funds to put in the missing sidewalk

The sidewalk the city installed is where the 420-unit Prose apartment complex that was approved last year will front Yosemite Avenue.

By failing to condition Yosemite Apartments in one way or another for the short segment of off-site sidewalk that would connect their future residents to existing sidewalk, staff very nicely added to the $61 million in needed pedestrian safety upgrades the city already has identified as essential for Manteca.

The City Council needs to step up on this one.

The city needs to put in the missing segment of sidewalk if approval of the project is beyond the point of no return. And they need to make sure it happens by the time the apartments are completed.

The city also needs to think long and hard about waiting for development to put in the roundabout they are requiring at Fishback and Yosemite avenue.

That intersection has always been dangerous.

It doesn’t help it is a major access route to Sierra High that will eventually have its enrollment reach at least 2,250 students to handle all of the growth the city is approving.

Roundabouts slow down traffic down while keeping it flowing.

It eliminates some of the scary left turns on and off of Fishback that you can witness in a typical week.

And — equally important — it makes crossing Yosemite Avenue to go to and from Sierra High safer for pedestrians.

Thanks to another “Yosemite” project — the Yosemite Greens neighborhood now partially built west of the golf course and an adjoining 121 duplex apartment approved just to the south — more high school students will be walking along Airport Way and Yosemite avenue.

A properly built roundabout makes crossing streets significantly safety.

The city needs to find a way to make the roundabout happen sooner than later ant not  — as in the case of past councils — wait until someone finally develops the other properties at the intersection.

That — as we all know in Manteca — has created situations where people are still waiting 30 years later for missing links of sidewalks and full streets to be put in place as development occurs.

This column is the opinion of editor, Dennis Wyatt, and does not necessarily represent the opinions of The Bulletin or 209 Multimedia. He can be reached at dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com